Potential Future Shortstop AWAITS Atlanta Braves in 2025 MLB Draft

Potential Future Shortstop AWAITS Atlanta Braves in 2025 MLB Draft

The Atlanta Braves strategy for focusing on starting pitching early in the draft has been a good one, but this is the year they need to switch things up. And I’m going to tell you why in today’s episode of Locked on Braves. So, let’s get into it. You are Locked on Braves, your daily Atlanta Braves podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. Hey, welcome back to Lockdown Braves, part of Lockdown Sports Atlanta, where we cover your favorite Atlanta sports teams each and every day. And by far, the Atlanta Braves are the best Atlanta sports teams to follow in my most humble opinion. If you’re new and watching this on YouTube, please do me a huge favor. Hit that subscribe button, hit the thumbs up button, and leave me a comment down below. If you’re listening on the audio version, you can help out by leaving a fivestar review on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast. Thank you so much for making Locktown Braves your first listen of each and every day. Hope you all had a great weekend. I certainly dig. Big shout out to the 6U Jags, my oldest son’s team, who won a tournament over the weekend. Two just incredibly good games for 6U teams. and my son with a big play in extra innings on defense. That certainly made the defensive uh minded set of of me very happy. So, I had a great weekend. Hope you did as well. The Braves with a big series win in Boston trying to carry that momentum into a series with the Nationals which we’ll preview later in this episode. But before we get into that, I want to go ahead and give a quick preview of the upcoming MLB draft as we’re less than two months away from the draft taking place and we haven’t touched on that at all. So, taking this off day really to preview uh preview you on what’s coming up in the MLB draft. And it’s a big week, too, because the college baseball postseason is getting underway with conference tournaments happening this week. I will be in Hoover for the SEC baseball tournament all week. So, looking forward to that. And then I love the college postseason, the NCA regionals. That is my March Madness in May. Uh so, I’m really looking forward to this week in the upcoming weeks for college baseball. So, here’ll be some names we’ll talk about today that you can watch as the college baseball postseason gets underway and some names to get excited about leading up to the MLB draft where I think the Braves might need to take a bat this time around. So, let’s jump into that. In the upcoming MLB draft, draft takes place July 13th through the 15th this year. The Braves have three picks in the top 100. Pick 22, pick 60, and pick 96. And then they have pick 127 136 was the which is the pick they get from the Max Freed compensation of him signing with the Yankees. They also get pick 157 and then they get pick 22 in each round after that. So um you know not not the best uh picks, but when you’re consistently going to the postseason, you’re obviously not going to get a ton of top picks. And uh you know they haven’t had a ton of free agents and because they’re in the luxury tax, they don’t get the best comp pick either for Max Freed. Their bonus pool aotment is just over $9 million, which is only 23rd most. So again, not not the best pool to work with going into a draft. You obviously could make some trades as we’ve seen them do in the past to, you know, acquire another pick, which gives you more bonus pool money. Doubt that’s going to happen this time around, but certainly could see that happen. But that’s where the Braves stand going into it. 22nd overall pick, three picks in the top 100, just over $9 million to play with. And the strategy we’ve seen from the Atlanta Braves a lot recently in the draft is that they’ll take, you know, an under slot pitcher early and then they’ll try to use that money to spread out and take some shots throughout the rest of the draft, which we’ve seen them do on AJ Smith Shaw, Drake Bowwin, guys like that. Nacho Alvarez, we’ve seen them, you know, take those chances in the mid rounds, you know, the three through seven rounds. I think AJ Smith Shaw was a seventh rounder. I think Nacho was a fifth. Bowwin was a third. So, um, you know, they’ve been able to do things like that. Isaiah Drake, I think, was another one kind of in there. So, that’s usually been the strategy for the Braves. Go under slot early and then, uh, try to, you know, spread that out early. The only time I think they didn’t do that was Hurst Wald. I think even that signing, sorry, I should have pulled all this up instead of trying to go off memory here, but I think even the Hursten Waldrip signing was just about slot value. Um, so that’s generally the Brave stat strategy. Focus on pitching early. get something at slaughter under slot if they can and then use that money to to take some shots in the the early to mid rounds of the draft. See AJ Evans saying I’m here to carry the Justin LeBron flag. Me too. Unfortunately, he’s not available in this year’s draft and I don’t think we’re going to tank for Justin LeBron next year as he’s probably going to be a top five pick. He is incredibly fun to watch. You know, even if you are just watching some college baseball postseason, make sure you check out Justin LeBron of Alabama. Even as an Auburn fan, I got to have respect for the shortstop, who I think’s probably the best shortstop in the nation. Um, getting into some of the top picks in the upcoming MLB draft, Ethan Holiday, Jamie Arnold, I think considered by many to be the most likely player to go number one overall in the draft. It feels like it’s been Ethan Holiday for a long time, but Jamie Arnold, the clear top arm. Jimmy Arnold, a lefty out of Florida State. kind of a weird arm angle. Uh, but a really good pitcher and the best pitcher in the draft. Like I said, there are some good college arms in this draft, but a lot of them are projected to go before the Braves pick. And unless one of these falls to the Braves, I I really think it’s a year that they need to go with a bat. But some of those other arms outside of Jamie Arnold are Liam Doyle of Tennessee, Kate Anderson at LSU, Kaisen Witherspoon at Oklahoma, uh Tyler Brimmer, UC Irvine, Riley Quick Alabama, JB Middleton at Southern Miss, Patrick Forbes at Louisville, Zack Root for Arkansas, AJ Russell of Tennessee who’s coming off injury. I think he’s trying to make his way back for the postseason. Marcus Phillips also at Tennessee. And then JD Thompson, a left-hander from Vanderbilt. Those are some of the most well-known college arms that you know, especially those top ones. Arnold, Doyle, Anderson, Witherspoon, Brimmer. Those are the top arms that are not likely not going to be available when the Braves pick the ones that could be there. Quick, Middleton forms. If those of you who don’t know, I I cover SEC baseball for college baseball central. So, I’m very familiar with the SEC, but outside of that, I don’t have a ton of familiarity with a lot of these pitchers and certainly not with the high school players. So, uh, I’m going to be a bit ignorant on some of those outside of what I read in scouting reports and watch on video. Riley Quick’s got big stuff. He’s taking a huge jump this year for Alabama. If he were there at 22, it would probably be somebody you could get under slot. AJ Russell was a big arm coming into the year, but got injured for Tennessee. It could be somebody that again you get a discount on. Zack Roots feels just kind of like a safer pick. Same with Marcus Phillips. JD Thompson, that left-handed pitcher. The Braves have kind of been targeting those lefties in draft. could be options. But again, I think this is the year unless an Anderson or a Doyle uh were to far fall that far, which I don’t think is is going to happen. I’m not as high on Kaisen Witherspoon uh the guy a pitcher out of Oklahoma. I just think his his size is going to limit him to the bullpen eventually. It’s really good stuff and he’s been good even in the SEC, but I’ve just always seen Kaisen Witherspoon as a a reliever down the road. Um, but unless one of those guys fall, I really think the Braves need to go back in the draft at 22. There are a lot of top high school talent in this draft. I’m going to focus on some of the the key shorts stops that I have highlighted that I think could be available, but there’s a lot of high school talent overall, both on the hitter and pitcher side. So, we could see them obviously go high school pitcher like they did last year with Cam Camiti. And two years in a row now, the Braves have had a pitcher just kind of fall in their lap that they just couldn’t pass up on. But unless that happens again this year, I think they need to go with a high school bat. There might be a couple of college bats, but I think in particular a high school bat. And here are the three that I’ve highlighted so far. Steel Hall, shortstop, uh, from my backyard, and Huitt Trustful in Alabama. Uh, fast. He has the tools to stay at shortstop, but there are qu questions with the hit tool and power, but certainly somebody that can stay in shortstop. I like to hear that because you’re going to see that there’s a lot of shorts stops available early in this draft. Everybody plays shortstop in high school. You’re the best player. You’re going to play shortstop in high school. That doesn’t mean that you’re going to be able to play shortstop at the big league level. But it sounds like with Steel Hall that he has all the tools, the the quickness, the the range, all of that to be able to stick at shortstop at the next level. Jojo Parker out of Mississippi. He might not be able to stick at shortstop based on the scouting reports, but has a quick hit tool. And a lot of these reports I’m getting are coming from MLB pipeline. And maybe my favorite so far, and part of this is because of his location, but Daniel Pierce, the short stop from Mil Creek, Georgia. Great makeup as a coaches kid. I love hearing that. A grinder. Somebody who’s always, you know, in the cages working athletic, enough athleticism to stick at shortstop. might be lower with the power output, but if he is somebody that, you know, has the hit tool, has the work ethic, and can play shortstop and you feel like he can play shortstop at the next level, I’m okay with it being a mid- teens type of power bat projection. And again, these are high school kids, so who knows how they’re going to develop. But Daniel Pierce of this group is the one that if he were to be able to fall to the Braves at 22, it might be somebody that you’d have to go over slot for to get him to get pushed down to where you are at 22. Um, but I really like Daniel Pierce out of Mil Creek Mil Creek, Georgia. Could be a great pick for the Atlanta Braves. Like I said, if they are able to get him a Georgia commit. So, sounds like he’s a he’s a Georgia guy. I would imagine he’s a Braves fan. Uh, so certainly would love for that to be the case. Now, some of the college bats in this Merrick Houston out of Wake Forest, shorts stop, good defender, but has questions with the hit tool. Uh, could ultimately be a utility player, and I don’t really love taking that in the first round. Gavin Keelin out of Tennessee, just moved to shortstop where Dean Curley was. Um, but he’s probably profiles more as a second baseman at the major league level, but is a good contact hitter. Ike Irish, uh, big bat at Auburn or Eagle. Just don’t know where to play him. there. There’s not many questions about the bat. Good left-handed hitter. I think he’s going to hit for average. I think he’s going to hit for for some power. Maybe not big power, but certainly uh good enough power in a corner outfield spot if you have to stick him out there. But I just really don’t know where you play him. But the hit tool is for real one of the best hitters in the country. Uh Wo Aloy out of Arkansas. Considered by many to be the best shorts stop in this draft. Either he or Keelin, but like I said, Keelin probably doesn’t stick at shortstop. Aloy at least has the ability to stay at shortstop. He made some big strides from 24 to 2025. When I watched him in 2024, he came over to Arkansas as a big-time prospect. And just my first looks at him, I I didn’t love him. Um whether in the in the field or at the plate, it’s a bit of a unusual um load, a bit of an unusual swing that he has, but you know, people have had awkward swings and made it work. Look at H 100 H 100 H 100 H 100 H 100 H 100 H 100 H 100 H 100 H 100 H 100 H 100 H 100 H 100 Hunter Pence. But I just have never been a huge fan of Aloy. But he has made some huge strides from last season to this season. He’s the SEC player of the year, which means a lot doing it in that conference. I just don’t know if he’s the guy that I’d want to go all in on at 22 overall. Now, Max Belaloo out of Texas, he might be one of the best all-around college hitters, and he has a strong arm for a corner outfield spot. He unfortunately got hurt for Texas. He’s missed a lot of time. They’re hoping to have him back for the postseason. That could be a bat worth looking at at 22 overall because it’s a very well-rounded hitter and somebody that could play in the outfield and maybe move pretty quickly through your system. So, you get a chance to watch Texas uh in the postseason, see if Max Beloo is going to return and see what he looks like because that could be somebody that’s, you know, been out for a little while. Maybe he’s lost some of the attention of scouts and falls a little bit, but could be one of the best college hitters in the draft. So, that might be a name to watch. Now, the latest mock draft from MLB Pipeline. They have the Braves taking Cruz Schoolcraft, left-handed pitcher from Sunset High School in Oregon. Young 18-year, just turned 18 in April. Big with 6’8 frame left-handed pitcher. Uh, on the right day, scouts say that he could look like the best arm in the class, but has been a little bit inconsistent. Fastball tops out at 97 and has a plus slider as well to go along with that. So again, we know the Braves like to target arms, so not crazy to think that a guy like Schoolcraft could be the Braves pick at 22 overall. But I think, you know, Daniel Pierce is there, Max Belaloo, those are some of the names early on as I begin to gather all the information for the MB draft. Those are a couple of names that I really like for the Braves at 22. We’ll start previewing more about the OB draft. Like I said, about a month, two month, a little under two months away from that happening. We’ll start to preview a little bit more as we get closer to the draft. But I want to go ahead and and and get, you know, wet your epit appetite a little bit with the college baseball postseason getting underway, give you some names to watch. All right, next we’ll turn our attention to the the players the Braves have already drafted and have in their farm system. We’ll look at the spotlight or spotlight some players from the minor league level this past week. We’ll get into that here next. Ever check your bank account and wonder where did all my money go? Between dining out, online shopping, entertainment, my kids paid for all these things for his his select baseball team that he has going on right now. The money is just flying out of the bank account and it’s easy to lose track. And that’s where Monarch Money comes in. Your personal CFO giving you full visibility and control over your finances. Monarch Money isn’t just a budgeting app. It’s a complete financial command center. You can track all your accounts, investments, and spending in one place so you stop just managing your money and start building wealth. Managing money with your partner is smoother than ever. You can track shared and personal accounts, set goals, and stay on the same page without all the stress. Take control of your finances with MonarchMoney. Use our code locked on MLB at monarchmoney.com. You’re going to get 50% off your first year. Yes, that’s right. I said 5. That’s monarchmoney.com. code locked on MLB for half off your first year. Thank you so much for joining us here on today’s episode of Locked on Braves, making us your first listen of each and every day. Make sure you go check out the guys over at Locked On MLB for your second listen solely getting you caught up with everything happening around Major League Baseball. Uh the guys over at MLB Game Night do a fantastic job. That includes my partner Lindseay Crosby of breaking down the biggest highlights from each and every night. So, make sure you give Locked on MLB a subscribe. Uh, hit that subscribe button for them, too. And go out and give them a listen. Words are hard for me today for whatever reason. But, thank you BC, Jeff Barry, Jeffrey Humphre, uh, Joe Mixon, all of you for joining me here live and joining me and battling through my uh, lack of wordsmith here tonight. Let’s get into our Miners spotlight this week. Starting with the Gwynet Stripers who went three for three against Charlotte last week. That’s a White Sox AAA affiliate. Carlos Rodriguez, I’ve talked a lot about him. He’s been really good. He started at double A. He’s coming to AAA and he’s continue to play well. He might be the next outfielder up. He goes nine for 22 last week, a double, five walks, one strikeout. Not that the Braves need another outfielder right now, but it was looking pretty thin there for a minute. But Carlos Rodriguez providing some quality depth. Jared Kelnik had a good week, too, though. Eight for 25, a double. Drove in six runs, three walks, three strikeouts, and stole a couple of bags. James McCann, backup catcher essentially for the Braves right now. He went eight for 16 last week, two doubles and two home runs, and he drove in eight. David Fletcher, seven for 22, no extra base hits. Very David Fletcherike. And then this guy named Ronald Akunia Jr. He went three for six with a double, a home run, six walks, no strikeouts, and a 1917 OPS for Ronald Akuna Jr. in his two games that he’s had so far with Gwynette. We’ll see if the Braves send him out on the road with Glennette this week as they’ll be playing in Louisville. Uh haven’t heard that news yet, but should know something on Tuesday. As far as the pitchers, Edwinette this past week, Ian Anderson, four innings, one hit, four walks, two earned, eight strikeouts on 81 pitches. Feels very much like an Ian Anderson start. Now, he’s getting stretched out back out to be a starter. So, that’s why, you know, only went four innings through 81 pitches. Obviously don’t love the the walks there. But that’s just that’s part of Ian’s game. You’ll take the walks as long as he’s only given up, you know, one hit. Had 15 whiffs in this one. 10 called strikes. So that’s solid. 11 whiffs on that change up. Fast ball average 94 miles per hour. 95.9 mile per hour average velocity against is very high. But keep in mind only four balls were put in play against Ian Anderson. Three of them were hard hit balls. But of the three hard hit balls, only one of them had a good launch angle and it went for a double. So really in the four innings, four balls put in play. Only one of them was struck well. 35 pitches in the zone, 46 pitches out of the zone. Too many pitches in the zone were middle middle. Um but again, good results for Ian Anderson and that’s just kind of who he’s always been. He can, you know, he might walk a bunch and he’s going to leave some pitches out over the zone. He’s going to throw too many pitches outside of the zone, but he’s hard to square up a lot of times when he’s on. Hursten Waldrip. Six innings, three hits, three walks, two earn, six strikeouts. Second straight quality start for Hursten Waldrip. Just seven whiffs, four on the FA fast ball, 15 called strike, six on the fast ball, six on the slider. His fastball averaged 96 mph. And it was another start where he really backed off the splitter. He only threw it 13 times in his 92 pitches. no whiffs on four swings with that splitter. His last time out, he threw the splitter just 19 times and led with a slider throwing it 41 times. Now, it was more the four seam fast. This time, the slider was the second most used pitch and then that splitter. But for reference, going back to his start on April 25th, he threw that splitter 26 times. And I feel like that’s generally where we’ve seen Hursten Waldrip with that splitter is somewhere 20 even 30 times. But he’s really backed off of that his last couple of starts. And you can’t argue with the results. the results have been there, but it’s just very very curious if this is if this is a strategy for the Braves either to make him focus on his other pitches and focus more on that slider knowing that the splitter is there or they just think he’s more effective without the splitter, which would be odd if that were the case because the splitter is his calling card. It’s been his best pitch. It always has been since his days in in college at Southern Miss in Florida. So, it would be quite curious if they were wanting him to not abandon it. Like I said, he still threw it 13 times and 19 times to his start before that, but it would be very curious if they were prioritizing the fast ball and the slider because I think his fast balls might be his worst pitch. Um, but I don’t know. We’ll have to see where this goes with Hers and Ward because like I said, you can’t you can’t deny the results have been much better in his last two starts and in those starts he’s focused more on the slider instead of the splitter. So, we’ll see how that continues. He threw 51 pitches in the strike zone, 41 pitches outside the strike zone. So, that’s very good for Hen Waldup. However, everything looked up. The fast ball was up, the slider was up. They were all belt high and above um based on the the the chart there on baseball savant. Seven hard hit balls against him. Only two of them with a decent launch angle. None of them really had what I would consider a good launch angle between about 15 and 30°, but two of them were just over I think one was 11, one was was 13. And they both went for singles. Uh four of the the hard hit balls against them were ground ground balls and there was one line line driving there at a six degree launch angle. So did a good job uh avoiding the sweet spot of the barrel. Now the rest of the pitchers, Edwin, Craig Kimell, three innings, two hits, no walks, no earn, four strikeouts. I would be a little surprised if we don’t see Craig Kimbell added to the roster on Tuesday hopefully for Raphael Montero. Uh but we’ll see what the Braves do there. But Craig Kimbell looking better. The Bo’s been a little bit better here as of late. I think if you’re going to call him up, now is probably the time. Michael Peterson, two innings, two hits, no walks, no earn, and three strikeouts. Wander Suero, two innings, one hit, one walk, no earn, two strikeouts, and a save. Uh at Columbus, uh they went three and three against Canapapolis. It’s the Cubs DoubleA affiliate. Only a couple hitters here. Again, it’s tough going for hitters in in DA. Drew Compton 8 for 21 with a double, two walks. Geraldo Quantero, five for 17, two doubles, a walk, and two stolen bases. The pitchers at DoubleA, Lucas Braun, bit of a rough outing for him. Probably his worst outing of the year. Four and two/3s innings, nine hits, one walk, hit a batter, six earned runs, but did still strike out six. Ian Mahia, back toback, really good starts for him. Seven innings, three hits, two walks, one hit batter, but no earned runs and five strikeouts. And then Raldi Munoz, three and a third, two hits, one walk, no earn, five strikeouts, and two saves. He and I think Hayden Harris, I’ve been saying it all year. Hayden Harris, two innings, one one hit, one walk, one earn, four strikeouts. I feel like both those guys need to be in in AAA and knocking on the door of the big leagues. Uh Dier Fentes starting to find his his footing at double A. Five innings, five hits, two walks, two earned, and four strikeouts. J.R. Richie making his first double A start. was not a great one. Four innings, only two hits, but walked five. That’s not typical J.R. Richie. Uh, two earned runs and three strikeouts. Blake Burkhalter still in a bit of a rut. Four and a third innings, four hits, four walks, one earned, three strikeouts. But again, somebody that if they decided they wanted to flip the switch and make him a reliever, I think he could be up with the Braves at some point this year. Drew Hackenberg only won an inning and a third this past week. No hits, one walk, no earn, one strikeouts. Haven’t heard any type of update there if he left for an injury or what have you. So, keep an eye out on Drew Hackenberg. We find some they’ll probably never tell us anything, but uh if we find out some more information on Drew Hackenberg, why he left early, it could have been a rain a rain start um but only win an inning in a third. Down at Rome, the Emperors go two and four versus Greensboro. The Pirates HA affiliate Titus Dmitri might win player of the week there. 11 for 26 a double three home runs eight RBI’s seven runs one walk one stolen base at 1237 OPS Patrick Kisy 7 for 22 a home run six walks four stolen bases did get caught stealing three times which is not great 7 for 20 a double seven walks and eight strikeouts in a stolen base and Lzandro Espinosa 6 for 26 with a double three home runs three walks nine strikeouts and two stolen bases you’ll notice good amount of home runs hit there for the Rome Emperors this Wait till you see how many home runs the Rome pitching staff gave up this past week. Garrett Bowman hadn’t given up a home run all year. He made two starts in Greensboro this past week. He gave up a combined seven home runs in those two starts. So not a great week for Garrett Bowman. Five and a third, five hits, two walks, four earned, three home runs, six strikeouts in his first start. And in his second start on May 18th, he went three and a third, five hits, no walks, five earned, four home runs, and four strikeouts in his second start. Brett Sears though, he might be the most impressive player in the farm system so far this season. Seven innings, four hits, one walk, three earned, and five strikeouts. Riley Frey, four innings, one hit, no walks, one earned, and three strikeouts. Ed Augusta, they go three and three against Columbia. The Royals, single Affiliate, Owen Carrey, nine for 25 with a double and three walks. Isaiah Drake, six for 25 with a double, two home runs, a walk, seven stolen bases, still striking out too much, and also got caught stealing twice with just one successful attempt. Mason Gera, five for 15 with two home runs, six RBI’s. Matt Gaseetti, five for nine with a triple for the catcher and three walks. Pitchers Raven Antonio, six innings, two hits, no walks, a hit batter and nine strikeouts. Luke Sennard, six innings, three hits, one walk, no earn, and nine strikeouts. Owen Hackman, five innings, four hits, one walk, three earns, seven strikeouts. Jeremy Reyes struck out, seven and four and two/3 innings. And Jacob Kroger had six strikeouts and four and a third scoreless innings. And finally, Samuel Mahia. Nine and third innings, four hits, no walks. Did hit a batter, one earn run, and six strikeouts. So, some good pitching performances there at Augusta. And then finally, at the FCL level, Jos Purdomo, uh maybe the future shorts stop for the Atlanta Braves. Eight for 23, two doubles, no walks, one strikeout. Carlos Monttoverde, four for 13 with a double, a homer, two walks, and three strikeouts. Jose De 3 for seven, a double, eight walks, and a strikeout. Cedric D Grand Prix D Grand Pre Prey, sorry. Um, two games started, seven and a third, six hits, two walks, two hit batters, no earn, and 13 strikeouts. He made 12 starts at Rome last year. So, he’s likely to get moved up soon. So, same for Jos Des, who’s been up as high as Triple A will probably get moved up there soon as they work their way back from injury. Uh, came in good four innings a hit, one walk, one hit batter, no earn, five strikeouts. And Cam Keminiti, the first round pick from last year, three innings, four hits, no walks, which is good. Two earned runs and four strikeouts. So there’s your miners spotlight for the re uh week. J is Richie went four innings uh in his double A debut, walked four batters. So uh again, kind of like DD Fuentes. A little bit of a rough start in his first AA debut, but he’ll he’ll get it together. Next, we’ll talk about a little bit of the news. Striders return, some cuts at the minor league level at the Atlanta Braves med made with some veterans, and we’ll preview that NAT series. We’ll get into all that here next. So, Spencer Strider is officially back. The Braves reinstated him on Monday. He’s likely to start on Tuesday. Haven’t officially announced that yet, but that is what everybody is expecting. And be great to have him back on Tuesday. Uh the Braves did make a couple of minor league cuts. Jordan Williams and Garrett Cooper got released. I liked Garrett Cooper as a good backup for Matt Olsen. He got off to a both these guys got off to good starts but have cooled off here recently. Uh but the Braves let both of them go. Some veterans that they had at Triple A have gotten released. Now as for this upcoming series against the Nats, we just watched them. So I’m not going to give you a full breakdown of them, but the offense pretty aggressive swingers. We saw that in that series. Um runs, they run a lot uh middle of the pack offensively and they will beat you if you let them. better ops than the Braves in the month of May. That’s not saying much. The Braves have had their struggles offensively, but just to kind of put it in perspective, the Nationals have a better OPS in the month of May than the Atlanta Braves. It is the worst bullpen in baseball, and the Braves did not do enough to take advantage of that in the last series against them. And they have to do that this time around. Get those starters out of the game, get into that bullpen, continue to add on and put games away. They didn’t do that in that NAT series. And it cost him it cost him a game in that series because Smith didn’t had to use his his best bullpen arms so they weren’t available. And it cost him a game in in the Red Sox series, too, because you had to use all those high leverage arms because you played a bunch of close games and games that shouldn’t have been close if your offense was able to add on late. The Tuesday game, a 6:45 p.m. Eastern start, Spencer Strider versus Mitchell Parker. How long will Strider go in this one? I’d imagine 80. They probably want to keep keep him under 90 pitches. So, if you can get five innings, anything over five, I think will be fantastic. But at least get them through five innings, I think that’s probably what you should expect from Strider and your bullpen should be fresh and ready to go with the off day on Monday. And so hopefully that will be the case for Spencer Strider and the Atlanta Braves be going up against lefty Mitchell Parker who has a 4.32 RA and a 1.3 whip on the year. But his last four starts, he’s given up six, five, four, and four earned runs. His last start came against these Braves. He went four and two/3s innings, four hits, two walks, four earned runs, six strikeouts, probably too many strikeouts against Mitchell Parker, somebody that only has 32 strikeouts in 50 innings this year. So would love for that to not happen. Uh 80 pitches in his last start against the Braves. Again, chance for this offense to put up a big number early, but then go to work on that bullpen and extend your lead. That’s what I’m hoping to see on Tuesday and throughout this series. The rest of the pitching matchups, AJ Smith Shaw versus Trevor Williams on Wednesday and then Chris Sale vers Mackenzie Gore on Thursday. Another great pitching matchup. Mackenzie Gore uh up there as one of the leaders in strikeouts this season. Chris Sale one of the best strikeout pitchers in baseball. So Chris Sails getting another good battle on his hands going up against a tough left-handed pitcher in the series finale of this one. So, even more important, while Sail’s been great, but makes it even more important to get the first two games of this series because Mackenzie Gore can be a tough battle, but he will throw a lot of pitches and if you make him work, you can get him out of the game early. And then again, playing with the Nationals, get to that bullpen and add on, put games away, come back, whatever the case may be, you have to get to that bullpen. The Braves did not do that enough in their first series against them. And hopefully they take advantage of it this time around and get another series win. Hopefully a series sweep to kind of finish off what has been a nice part of the schedule for the Atlanta Braves. Really the Red Sox were the only team in this part of the schedule that you feared, but fortunately they’re kind of going through a bit of a rut. Although they did get a big win over the Mets on Monday, so thank you for that. But really it was the Pirates that Pirates series that the Rays struggle with outside of that. They won the Nat series. They won the Red Sox series. So finishing off this stretch against the Nationals with the series win, if not a sweep before the schedule really picks back up and you got some tough games to end the month of May. That would do this episode of Lockdown Braves. Thank you all for joining me here on today’s episode. Thank you to Miguel Frio, Carlos Parino, Jeff Barry, Sturgil Simpson, Laro Bond in here. Thank you so much. Uh Hunter, Lacy, Jay is Thank you all for joining me today live on the episode. Appreciate you always for supporting me here on Lockdown Braves. If you haven’t already, hit that subscribe button, hit the thumbs up button, leave me a comment down below. Me and Lindsay will be back for the postcast this week. Again, I will be out at the SEC baseball tournament. So, might be spotty on those postcasts and with when I release some of the episodes this week, but we will have three more episodes for you this week of Locked on Braves. We’ll have a postcast for you every day as well, either with Lindsay or me and Lindsay on the show. So, make sure you subscribe here to Locked On Braves podcast on YouTube or wherever you get your podcast, and we will talk to you.

The Atlanta Braves have been aggressive in taking pitchers at the top of the MLB Draft in recent years, but this might be the year to change that approach.

In this episode, host Jake Mastroianni previews the upcoming 2025 MLB Draft for the Braves, and spotlights the best performances from down on the farm.

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0:00 Intro

5:12 Top college arms in upcoming MLB draft

9:46 Potential high school bats for Braves’ pick

14:50 Minor league spotlight: Gwinnett Stripers

21:27 Double-A and Single-A team performances

26:02 Spencer Strider returns, minor league cuts

28:34 Previewing Braves-Nationals series pitching matchups